Tuesday 23 July 2013 19.37 EDT
First published on Tuesday 23 July 2013 19.37 EDT

The bodies of two teenage girls who went missing on Tuesday afternoon after getting into difficulty in a river in Northumbria have been recovered by dive teams.

Police said that the families of the girls, who have not yet been formally identified, were informed following the search operation at the river Wear, which involved about 100 emergency service personnel.

An off-duty policeman and a member of the public had tried to save the teenagers, who got into difficulties while playing in the river at Fatfield, Tyne and Wear, at about 3pm on Tuesday.

Superintendent Alan Veitch, of Northumbria police, said: "There were two people on the banks who saw the children in difficulty. One was an off-duty police officer going for a run who dived in and saved a boy who was trying to save one of the missing girls.

"Another gentleman dived in and swam the width of the river to get to one of the girls but he came up empty-handed. He was distraught as you can imagine.

"Family liaison officers are with the parents and they are distraught and need a lot of support and we are providing them with every assistance we can."

He said the river was tidal up to a point further upstream from where the children went missing.

There was a lot of debris and foliage in the river at the time and the girls are thought to have gone under at a point around 100 metres downstream, at a dogleg in the river.

It is believed that the tide may have turned at around the time they got into difficulty.

Veitch added: "Today was one of the hottest days of the year, it's the school holidays and it's tempting to go in the water. There are big, strong powerful river currents and this is not the place to lark about in the water."

Paul Cronin, 63, who lives close to the scene, said he saw one of the men who had just attempted a rescue.

He said: "This gentleman came running up towards the park and I thought it was strange because he was dressed in his boxer shorts. He had just crawled out of the river and had nearly drowned himself. He was screaming at me: 'Can you swim?'"

They went back to the river but the first rescuer was too exhausted to go back in and Cronin said he saw no sign of the girls. There was a group of three teenage boys who had been playing with the girls.

"By the time I got there it was too late," he said. "She had gone under the water. If she had been on the surface I would have gone in." Cronin said a sister of one of the missing girls was soon at the scene. "She was in a right state, trying to get in touch with her mother but her phone was dead," he said.

One of the bodies was found at 9pm on Tuesday while the other was recovered at 10pm. Both were taken to Sunderland Royal Hospital, a Northumbria police spokesman said.

"Activities at the river will now be scaled down and inquiries will be carried out into the circumstances of the incident," he added.

Scores of people had gathered in small groups close to the scene of the major search, by the Biddick Inn pub. Fire crews, one in a dinghy searching the river, joined police specialists and a coastguard team. Local people reportedly said that the river had been unusually low recently, attracting children enjoying school holidays.